Love must be completely sincere. Hate what is evil, hold on to what is good. Love one another warmly as Christian brothers, and be eager to show respect for one another. Work hard and do not be lazy. Serve the Lord with a heart full of devotion. (Romans: 12: 9-11)

by Dr. Miura Teruo, Dean and Kyodan missionary

Makino School of Continuing and Non-Formal Education (MSCNE)

Sam Higgingbottom Institute of Agriculture, Technology & Sciences

Allahabad, Uttar Pradesh State, India

I have been working at the Makino School of Continuing and Non-Formal Education (MSCNE) of the Sam Higginbottom Institute of Agriculture, Technology & Sciences in Allahabad District, Uttar Pradesh State, India since April 2004. The institute was established 104 years ago by the Reverend Dr. Sam Higginbottom, a Presbyterian Church in USA missionary. In 1997, the Makino School was set up on the institute campus by Dr. Makino Kazuho, a Japanese missionary from the Kyodan, as a part of the institute’s Faculty of Agriculture. The school is designed to focus on practical education and training according to real-life situations and training for rural workers at a grass-roots level. Hence, admission to the school is not limited by one’s educational level but only by one’s passion and dedication to work with people.

The school aims to provide non-formal education and training on the basis of God’s love and the Christian spirit to rural people and also to assist in development efforts for improvement of the quality of rural life. For the past decade, MSCNE has focused on nurturing both men and women in rural areas and on implementing rural development activities towards self-reliance.

The following are concrete activities that have been implemented in the past year:

1. Special Course in Sustainable Agriculture for Rural Leaders

Every year, the course begins in early July and finishes in early April of the following year. Students are mostly sent by churches and NGOs and, after the completion, they are supposed to return to their places of work or their own communities to work among them at a grass-roots level. The course stresses organic farming, providing skills and basic concepts of farming and food production, food processing, and marketing. At present, more than 300 graduates are scattered all over India, Myanmar, and Japan. Almost all the students had sending bodies that are NGOs or Christian church organizations, but some come on their own. This school year, students studied a series of lessons on sustainable agriculture, which includes organic ways of agricultural production, food processing, and alternative marketing. Since three years ago, the course has achieved a more international atmosphere as more students from Myanmar and Japan have entered. It seems to generate more cross-cultural understanding among students and staff members, broadening their views of culture, religions, justice, and peace.

2. Assistance to Allahabad Agriculture Cooperative

MSCNE assisted in improving production of Japanese rice and Japanese seasonings (e.g., miso and soy sauce), aiming to facilitate financial self-management of cooperatives and to improve income-generation for individual farmers. Those products have sold very well at a much higher price, compared to other rice; 53 cooperative farmers took part in the Japanese rice-growing project. The rice has been sold all over India, especially to Japanese restaurants and Japanese residents in India, even extending to Korean and American communities. While the cooperative society has gotten a much stronger capacity to manage its own operation, it is still necessary for them to get more advice and technical assistance, such as on improving customer care, quality control, efficiency in food processing, development of markets.

3. Assistance to the Asha School

MSCNE provided assistance and guidance to three private schools, called the “Asha School,” which were initially established by MSCNE. At present, 650 children from kindergarten to grade 10 are enrolled in the three schools. Almost all the students are from marginalized families whose social status has been kept low because they are seasonal farm laborers, simple laborers, or deprived, low-caste people facing persistent caste discrimination. Until two years ago, the schools were led by MSCNE, but nowadays, representatives chosen from among the teachers are able to operate the schools with much confidence, having organized their own educational society, called the Asha Smile Shiksha Society.” (Shiksha means “education” in Hindi.) Now, MSCNE provides special training programs for new teachers, educational camps for female students, and partial scholarship for school children. Moreover, the schools, teachers, and students were strongly encouraged by the schools to obtain financial assistance from Presbyterian Church U.S.A. churches, Japanese volunteers, NGOs, and individuals. Their donations were used for improvement of school buildings and facilities (e.g., toilets, hand pumps, and roof repairing, et cetera).